A New Start
by Kafryne
Summary: AU. Carol Peletier suffered a lot in his life. When she moves to Woodbury, a peaceful town, she finally hopes to find serenity. But it's without taking into account his strange neighbor hunter and on the inhabitants of the city which is not as well quiet as it looks like it...


**Hi! I wrote this story in french and I have to thanks TWDlover92 for her wonderful translation!**

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Carol was profoundly asleep. The exhaustion from her last moving knocked her out completely. And for the first time in days, she could finally catch some sleep. Drifting away in her dreams, she couldn't hear the car parking in front of her lodge nor the sound of the loud footsteps on the porch. He entered the lodge in which she hoped she could find peace in the intention of eliminating him for good. After all those years, he never changed and his sneaky glance was scanning the obscurity, looking for her bedroom door. Silently, he went through the living room filled with countless cardboard boxes and tried to open her door. As he opened the door slowly to take her by surprise, he found her lying in a big bed, her body so small with all the sheets surrounding her. A satisfied smile appeared on his lips. After all this time, he had found her and he was ready to get her back. She belonged to him and he couldn't contain his rage at the thought that someone may have put his hands on her. He slowly walked up to her, his eyes following the curves of her body. Without a doubt, multiple men must have touched her while he was gone and he would punish her for her infidelity. In a decade, she had changed a lot and she was barely recognizable from the last time he had seen her. Time had left his effects on her. She had cut her long brown hair, leaving the natural gray growing on her head. Ed found her very attractive and he was determinate in getting his woman back.  
He then straddled her with his strong legs, keeping her from moving away when she would wake up. Satisfied to see her body offered to him so openly, he began stroking her stomach and her small breast that he couldn't help but bite. Impatient to hear her scream and fight for her freedom, he reached for her wrists and pulled them up in the air. He took a long look at her beautiful face and smiled when her eyelids began moving. She was about to wake up and he desperately wanted to make her his once and for all.

"You are mine." he finally said with his husky voice.

Carol suddenly woke up, feeling the weight crushing her body and a heavy breath touching her face. The fear immediately ran through her like lightning. He was there. The person she feared the most was there, in her bedroom, on top of her. Despite all her efforts to run away from him, he had found her. She opened her eyes, ready for the horror as he would try to slap her again…but nobody was there. She sat down on her bed and reached for her bedside lamp. The bedroom was completely empty. She quivered as she looked at the cardboard boxes on the floor, the closed window and the locked door. She stood up to make sure that the door was really locked. Shen then turned on the light and went to her bathroom. She tried to take deep breaths as her heart was still stammering in her chest. It was just a nightmare. One of those that just felt so real that it was quite destabilizing. A nightmare that followed her for ten years now. She splashed some water on her face, wishing it could be enough to put her back on track.  
Unfortunately, still under the shock, she went back to bed without closing the light. Every time she would fall asleep, he would be there waiting for her on the other side. This face she wished she could forget, this voice that managed to still scare her…She just couldn't move on. Whatever she was doing, he was still there.

Yet, he couldn't reach her. He was stuck in prison for good. And she was far away from him so he couldn't even try to find her back if he wanted. She had just moved in Woodbury; an isolated village far away from everything, situated in the highland. A place where you could find peace since it wasn't high on criminality. She had nothing to worry about since she was as safe as she could get over there. It had been three days since she moved in and she still didn't get the chance to discover the surroundings. Maybe meeting new people would be good for her. Staying alone wasn't that much of a good idea. She stayed in bed a little longer, reminding herself of everything she had done before coming here. After he was thrown in jail, she left Chicago to live by herself. She spent some time in a few cities, never staying for too long before moving again. But this time, things were different. At 48, she finally found stability in Woodbury. She wanted to make friends and eliminate this enemy that kept stalking her in those awful nightmares. She wanted to move on from her past for good and when she visited this little house in Woodbury, she felt like that was it. With a little luck, she could find a decent man and live some kind of relationship someday. She smiled and passed a hand on her face. She was only vaguely flirting with this idea. In ten years, she barely interacted with men at all. Sometimes, she would go for dinner or have a drink with someone but that was it. As soon as a man would put his hand on her, she would immediately feel back and think about…him. Finally, despite her desire to not be alone anymore, she thought it wasn't a priority at the moment. In the worst case, she could always get a dog.

The first sunrays pierced through the clouds and illuminated her bedroom. Carol finally got up and put on her shoes for a good walk outside. She followed a path that guided her through the heart of the woods. She could smell the fresh grass and the feel of the wind on her skin helped her think about something else. Unfortunately, she started thinking about Sophia instead. Sophia would have loved those woods if destiny had decided otherwise. Instinctively, she put a hand on her medallion. A little cross Sophia had given her for the last Mother's Day they shared together. Her eyes started to blur a little as she thought about her lost daughter. But this time, she refused to give in to an overload of sadness. She took a deep breath and decided to pick up some speed. The past was behind her and she had to move on so she could achieve her engagement to her daughter: keep on living. That's why she was finally decided to settle down once and for all in this little village. She had saved up so much money to afford her own house that when she had the opportunity to buy the lodge; she jumped on it almost immediately. It needed a few renovations but it wasn't that terrible. Anyway, it was the perfect place to spend her lonely days. Carol was about to go back when her forearm started hurting so bad. Horrified, she took a look and noticed that an arrow went right through it. She started screaming so loud that the birds around her flew away in the sky.

"Oh my god! Someone, help me!" Carol screamed.

She put a shaking hand to her forearm to see the extent of the damages. She heard footsteps near her and when she lifted up her head, she could see blue eyes staring at her with surprise.

"What da hell are you doin' here?" the man growled.

"You've done this to me!" Carol replied with a little anger building up in her.

"Ya…but you shouldn't have been here."

"Wait. You just shot me with this…"

Carol's eyes drifted to the crossbow he still had in hands as he stared at her with a suspicious look.

"This weapon!" she concluded. "And don't talk to me like that!"

"I'll talk to ya like I want to, alright?" he responded, not impressed.

They both stared at each other for a little longer before Carol finally decided that she really needed to treat this injury fast.

"It doesn't look that bad. Want me to take ya to a doctor or somethin'?" he offered, feeling a little more concerned about her.

He hesitantly wanted to put a hand on her shoulder but she backed away at the same second.

"No, I'll do it myself. Just give me your name so I can file a complaint against you." she quickly answered.

He looked surprised by this threat as he passed a hand through his thick hair.

"Listen, it was an accident. If there's one to blame in this story, it's you. You're on a private field and it's hunting season." he tried to explain to her.

Carol's eyes suddenly widen, unaware about all those details.

"Find yourself lucky I'm ready to take ya to doctor Greene."

"You ain't gonna take me anywhere!"

"I can't leave ya with this damn arrow through your arm!"

Carol looked at her arm and shook her head.

"I've known worse." she finally answered, a bit bitter.

He narrowed his eyebrows.

"Doubt it."

Carol looked at him one last time, not impressed by his tough looking demeanour, and turned around to go to her house.

"Let me at least escort ya home?" he proposed.

"No thanks. I don't need you."

Carol walked with a decided mindset, still feeling the stranger's presence behind her although she didn't look back. He didn't say a word and it forced Carol to face him as she was about to reach her house.

"Listen, we don't know each other. I propose you go back to your little hunting trip with your stupid arrows and leave me alone." she asked him, losing patience.

"I know who you are. You just moved in this lodge a few yards from here."

"It doesn't matter. I won't file a complaint so you can stop following me now. "

"I'm obligated to."

"No! You don't have to worry about me. I'll be just fine on my own."

He shook his head and said in a nonchalant voice:

"I'm not worried about ya. I just need this arrow back."

Carol didn't know what to say. She was injured, she was mad but yet, she couldn't help but laughing out loud. A real laugh she didn't have in a long time. She kept walking without noticing that her laugh made the stranger smile and laugh too. She went to her porch and clumsily retrieved the keys from her jeans. When she opened the door, she turned her head to the stranger and asked:

"You stay here."

He was staying downstairs, nodding to her, without showing any particular emotion.  
She went inside and directly rushed to the bathroom to see the wound in a better light. She winced as she barely stroked the surface of the wound with her fingers. After a little examination, she understood that the arrow didn't get too deep in her arm. Gathering up her courage, she pulled out the arrow from her arm and screamed a little during the procedure. Carol could feel the tears rolling down her cheeks but she then proceeded in putting a little alcohol on the wound with a towel. She maintained the pressure on her arm to suck up all the blood from the wound. She then took some clean bandages to keep the wound from getting infected again. After years of abuse from her ex-husband, she had developed good reflexes when it came down to fix what needed fixing. In the end, it was more fear than anything else. Her eyes suddenly went for the arrow and she took it in a raging movement. She opened the front door and found the stranger in the same position as she had last seen him.

"You alright?" he asked, pointing to her arm.

Carol didn't even bother answering and walked directly towards him. She could see a little glimpse of culpability in his eyes but she didn't take it into account.

"Here's your arrow. Now leave and I don't ever want to see you again." she finally said, handing him the arrow.

He nodded and their hands touched for a quick second as he picked up the arrow. Their eyes finally met and Carol could feel her heart lose a beat at that exact moment. She released the arrow and felt like she just got burned. He didn't say a word and left with a little smile crossing his face. Carol looked at him leaving, her eyes noticing the angel wings on the back of his leather vest. "An angel, my eye!" she thought. The jerk didn't even excuse himself for the trouble.

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**Thanks you! Tell me what you think and if I can continue!**

**Bisouxoxo**


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